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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029090">That Town where Nothing Happened (but Everything went Wrong)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy8/pseuds/Lazy8'>Lazy8</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Season 2, Trapped in a Burning Building, War Crimes, canon compliant if you squint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:20:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,122</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029090</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy8/pseuds/Lazy8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be a routine supply run. Uneventful. Boring.</p>
<p>They didn't count on the Fire Nation military coming to the same town that they had.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara &amp; Sokka (Avatar), Toph Beifong &amp; Katara</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bad Things Happen Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>That Town where Nothing Happened (but Everything went Wrong)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>Prompt:</b> Trapped in a Burning Building<br/><b>Hurt Character:</b> Katara<br/><b>Comforting Character(s):</b> Toph<br/><b>Characters:</b> Katara, Toph, Sokka<br/><b>Relationships:</b> Katara &amp; Toph, Katara &amp; Sokka<br/><b>Warnings (Aside from the Self-Evident):</b> War crimes, arson<br/><b>Other Tags:</b> PTSD, canon compliant if you squint</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In hindsight, maybe separating <em>hadn't</em> been the best idea.</p>
<p>They'd be able to resupply faster if they each visited a different part of the market, Sokka had reasoned. He could get the food, Katara could get the medicine and sewing supplies she'd been running low on, Aang would have the time to give Appa a good brushing, and Toph could do… whatever it was that Toph did when she visited a market. They could get packed and get moving in a third of the time! It <em>should</em> have gone perfectly smoothly.</p>
<p>…except the one thing Sokka <em>hadn't</em> counted on was the Fire Nation attacking the exact same town where they had decided to resupply. Now, what <em>should</em> have been a routine supply run had just become a deathtrap.</p>
<p>All around him, people were running and screaming. Sokka had his boomerang out but didn't have the first clue where to throw it. The air was hazy and thick with the stench of smoke. Horrified, Sokka let his eyes drift over to what was burning, and in that instant, his heart stopped.</p>
<p>Immediately, without thinking, he was moving, but he hadn't even managed three steps before two complete strangers grabbed his arms, and a third got hold of his waist.</p>
<p>"Don't," the people holding onto him were telling him. "Don't, it's already too late, there's no point throwing your life away too."</p>
<p>Sokka didn't hear any of it. Sokka could only struggle and thrash against the hands that were holding him, screaming over and over again until his throat went hoarse:</p>
<p>"Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! MY SISTER'S IN THERE!"</p><hr/>
<p>The building had caught fire so quickly she hadn't even realized what was happening until it was almost too late.</p>
<p>Even though she'd run for the exit the second she'd smelled the smoke, when she'd reached the door, it was only to find her way blocked by a group of laughing and sneering Fire Nation soldiers. Though she'd tried to fight her way free, there had been too many of them and they'd been throwing a <em>lot</em> of fire, and her water went up in steam even as she drew it from her pouch. Within seconds, she had nothing left to fight with, and then a burning beam had crashed down in front of the door, and just like that Katara was trapped, the soldiers' harsh laughter ringing in her ears.</p>
<p>Now, she was stuck in the midst of the flames, without any water left to clear herself a path to an exit. Worse, it seemed as if the spring rains hadn't yet come to this region; anything that caught fire here burned quickly and it burned hot. It had only been a few minutes, but already the air was searing and she was surrounded by flames in every direction.</p>
<p>Coughing, Katara backed away from the flames… but there was nowhere to go. It was so hot in here that the very air was causing her skin to redden and blister, and every breath was an agony of choking smoke. Tears streamed from her eyes, only to be immediately evaporated in the searing air.</p>
<p>She wasn't going to make it out of this, was she? Was this how Mom—</p>
<p>"Sweetness! Down here, Sugar Queen! Hey, <em>Katara!</em>"</p>
<p>Dazed, she looked toward the source of the voice… which she only just now realized was coming from <em>below</em> her… to see that there was a hole in the floor that hadn't been there before. A pale hand waved up at her from out of the darkness.</p>
<p>"Hurry up and get down here! I don't want to breathe any more of this smoke than I have to!"</p>
<p>At that point, she honestly wasn't thinking clearly enough to do much more than follow the sound of Toph's voice. She stepped forward, and no sooner had she tumbled through the hole than the earth closed back up over her head.</p>
<p>For a few minutes, the only thing she could do was sit there and cough, taking in the untainted air in harsh, wheezing gasps and reveling in the blissful coolness of the earth against her skin. She really had thought that she was about to die in there. She'd… she'd…</p>
<p>"<em>Breathe</em>, Sweetness." In the darkness, a set of small fingers closed around her wrist. "And I hate to break it to you, but we have to get moving. Believe it or not, we don't have unlimited air down here."</p>
<p>That thought alone was enough to get her heart pounding all over again, but Toph tugged her and tugged her and Katara numbly followed, if for no other reason because it was easier to follow than it was to resist.</p>
<p>They came up into clean air, well away from the now-burning village. There were other people all around them: the villagers, she realized dully. Most of them seemed to have successfully evacuated, though that was small consolation for losing their homes.</p>
<p>She barely had time to make these observations before she was yanked into a crushing hug.</p>
<p>"Sokka," she wheezed. "Can't… breathe…"</p>
<p>"Yeah, Snoozles, her breathing's already not so good." Though Toph spoke bluntly, her voice seemed to carry a rare edge of concern. "I think you better lay off."</p>
<p>With a yelp, Sokka released her as if <em>he</em> were the one who'd been burned, and set her back by the shoulders as if she were made of glass. Tears were streaming from his eyes, a glob of snot hanging from his nose. "Oh no, I'm sorry! Katara, are you okay? Are you hurt? Did—"</p>
<p>Katara held up a hand to cut him off, though when she opened her mouth to say she was fine, she was promptly overtaken by another coughing fit. "I think I need to heal myself," she rasped after the coughing finally subsided; the fact that what she had brought up was liberally flecked with black alarmed her more than she wanted to admit. "Where's the nearest stream?"</p>
<p>As Sokka slung an arm around her waist (he seemed almost ready to pick her up and carry her), and a wide-eyed Aang came running up to meet them, it really hit Katara that she now owed Toph her life. If the little earthbender hadn't acted when she had, and tunneled under the burning building to save her, Katara would have gone up in flames. Later, she was going to have to process what she'd been through, and to consult a healer to see whether the damage went beyond a handful of burns. For now, though, she thought as she let herself sink down into the glowing water, she was going to have to do something extra nice for Toph the next time they stopped.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>And this was about the point where I came to the conclusion that Python hates Katara.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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